Communication instructors have long insisted on the importance of audience adaptation. But they have said less about (a) the dimensions along which adaptation might proceed or (b) how a student might learn the art of adapting. In this article, I contribute toward addressing these two deficiencies. I suggest a dimension for adaptation - the value…

Theater uses drama and conflict to stimulate audience's emotions taking advantage of the fact that emotions can trigger people to achieve a desired learning result. Creating a theatrical learning environment enables learners to actively participate in knowledge creation in an entertaining environment. In this paper, I will use a conference session…

Active learning pedagogy has many documented benefits, and while several positive examples of its recent use in STEM classes have led to better performance, greater diversity, more equity, and improved retention of underrepresented student populations, more research in IS and IT classrooms is needed. Most active learning exercises are in a…

Liberal arts courses sometimes face the question of whether core texts can actually 'educate character' or 'care for the soul' in the Socratic sense. The "Bhagavadgita" addresses these issues from a Hindu perspective. But at the same time, the educational function of a religious core text changes decisively when transposed into a liberal…

This article brings together data from two complementary studies of the teaching of writing in Australia. Mobilising motifs of the hum and the hive to think together how our projects resonate, the authors highlight a key concern that emerges across both studies: the absence of real-world audiences for student writing in contemporary pedagogy.…

This article explores the use of an interactive mnemonic device called a "Map of Memories" to navigate the museum theater production "Our Footprints," staged in 2017 in the Bergtheil Museum in Durban, South Africa. The Map is an interactive tool used by audience members to explore the exhibits and the performance through…

Engaging a large cohort of students with teaching content is a difficult task for any educator working in higher education. When students are not receiving feedback about their participation efforts, this can lead to decreased engagement. Polling activities, such as hands up responses, can be used to address this but students cannot respond…

Jesus' stories and parables--the products of his own imagination--are at the core of Christian religious education. Christian religious educators are to encourage their audience to engage their imagination to let Jesus' stories retain their power to form and transform them. Although imagination operates imperceptibly, it is essential to faith…

"Active learning" strategies--peer instruction, simulations, hands-on activities, and the like--improve student performance and engagement. However, instructors often struggle to incorporate these techniques into their courses. Doing so can be especially difficult in large lecture courses, where the number of students makes activities…

Following ethical standards is more critical than ever in a digital world where media reaches global, fragmented audiences. But each country, culture, and situation is different. So, how do we decide what standards are important to teach? Syndicate participants identified issues that instructors need to address to answer this question. This report…

Immune literacy--the ability to hear, learn, read, write, explain, and discuss immunological content with varied audiences--has become critically important in recent years. Yet, with its complex terminology and discipline-specific concepts, educating individuals about the immune system and its role in health and disease may seem daunting. Here, we…

Courses: Public Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasion, Political Communication, and Media Communication. Objectives: By the end of this activity, students should be able to: explain the key components of Lloyd Bitzer's rhetorical situation; assess and navigate various conditions affecting various speaking situations; conduct audience analysis…

Notable theorists have argued that theatre and drama play positive roles in the moral education of children and adults, including cultivating their capacity for empathy. Yet other theorists have expressed concerns that plays and educational practices involving improvisation might not lead to positive changes in real life, and might even have…

In November 2019, the Smithsonian hosted the "Transatlantic Seminar for Museum Curators and Educators: Museums as Spaces for Social Discourse and Learning." The program brought together German and American museum professionals and was co-sponsored by the Leibniz Institution, the Smithsonian Institution, and Fulbright Germany. A keynote…

Courses: Introduction to Communication, Public Speaking, Persuasion, Business Communication. Objective: This activity increases students' understanding of audience adaptation and improves their ability to adapt presentations to specific audiences.